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Digital Inclusion

Malaysia continues IT literacy push through training centres

By Pia Rufino | 24 February 2011

The Rural and Regional Development Ministry continues to equip the rural community with Medan Infodesa (MIDs) or IT centres and ICT training.

Under the MID programme, launched in 2002, each rural district will have an MID complete with computer and Internet facilities.

The number of computers in each telecentre varies from two to 20, depending on the size of the local community being served.

Zarina Jantan, the Principal Assistant Secretary of Community Empowerment and Infodesa Division of MRRD told FutureGov Asia Pacific that 142 MIDs were already in operation.

“We have received very positive feedback from the rural people especially from those students who do not have facilities and the Internet in their homes; they have been able to do their research and use online applications,” she said.

ICT training includes the use of basic software applications and the Internet to acquire information, communicate and complete basic transactions with the government, private and financial institutions.

Jantal said the MID project offers courses on how to create a blog and portal and how to become online entrepreneurs. Some telecentres also conduct training on basic computer maintenance.

The daily operations of the telecentres are managed by ICT managers trained through MID.

To date 89,180 rural people have been provided with basic ICT training since the project was rolled out in 2002.

Jantal said the goal was to get more rural people ICT literate and reduce the digital gap between rural and urban areas.

However, there were challenges with project sustainability, including Internet connections, that needed to be overcome.

As well as government funding, the MIDs charge a small fee for Internet browsing, which is used to fund some operational expenses, such as utility charges, computer accessories and paper for printing.

Jantal said the the MRRD will partner with the private sector and universities to address some of these challenges.

Raising awareness around ICT training was also a problem in rural communities, she said.

“We sometimes find people who are reluctant to make use of the facilities that we provide. They don’t really use them because they don’t see the immediate benefits of the problem.”

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